* Messy, Authentic, Magical Life *

An old-fashioned summer

When I was a child summer meant inner-tubes in the river, camping in the woods, and campfires beneath the stars. It meant chasing fireflies, picking wildflowers, and catching toads.

Summer was endless sunny bike rides, tangled tree branch forts, and calls of "be home before dark!" as we raced down the driveway.

But summer today – like much of life – seems increasingly busy for so many.

And while my family's life here on the farm feels pretty slow and old-school, I recognize that we're not the norm.

The norm, I suspect, is summer school and soccer league. Overnight camp and enrichment activities. Full schedules from June through September.

And when you add to this the constant allure of our glowing screens, an old-fashioned summer feels like something that went extinct generations ago.

But what if…

What if we made a choice to resurrect that old-fashioned summer break?

What if we brought back just a little of the slowness, the magic, and the dirt-under-your-fingernails experience of a hands-on, real-live summer?

No, you don't need to give away your IPod, shut off the WIFI, or cancel your child's slot at camp (we won't be anyway). Because those things have a place in modern life, too. But what do you say we embrace our fast-paced lives while we remember what's worth keeping from slower days gone by?

And if you did, what would your kids never forget about this summer?

Below are 25 simple and free ideas to make summer a slowed-down, pulled-back, just-right experience.

Dig in for an afternoon, a week, or the whole season and delight in what unfolds.

Because these are the moments you will savor and remember.

25 Tips for (a delightfully old-fashioned)

summer vacation

1. Slow down.

There's no hurry to get anywhere, so let's savor where we are. You only have one chance at this day, this season, this relationship, this childhood.

2. Under-schedule.

Less on your calender means more space for the people you love. If your kids are accustom to a pretty full plate it might take them a bit to adjust. But when they do a whole world of possibilities will open up before them.

8. Stay up late chasing fireflies.

I mean honestly. How could you not? These bubbles will captivate everyone, young and old.

10. Go swimming in a lake.

Or the ocean. Or a creek. But get your feet wet in nature. And if the water is cold I double dare you to dunk!

11. Sleep out in your backyard.

With or without a tent. Under the moon and stars, just you and your family. Summer was made for this.

If you want to take the sleep out even further, plan a road trip to a National Park. Because the Parks somehow feel like everyone's backyard.

12. Explore without agenda

Your block, a city, the forest, your home state. Make an adventure of it. On bike, on foot, by car, or by train, get out there and find new places to love.

13. Listen to your children's stories.

As Catherine Wallace brilliantly put it, “Listen earnestly to anything [your children] want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff.”

Don't wait. Start today.

14. Have less rules.

The world is safer now than it has ever been. Safer than when I zipped down the driveway with no helmet and was told to "be home before dark". Children learn best through freedom, and we adults thrive with less "should" and more "want to" in each day.

I still haven’t let go of the glorious idea of Summer as these endless golden days stretching ahead of you forever…sadly I don’t have that anymore, but I can still try to keep the right mindset: gratitude and mindfulness of every free moment I do have.